Help figuring out calories

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myztic
myztic Posts: 37 Member
Hi
I am 5 '2 breastfeeding 28 years old and weigh 111. I do not look fit and thin so I need to lose about five more pounds or atleast swap the fat for some muscle. I don't wanna look muscular (not what I would like) but I do want to look toned.
I also have a thyroid problem... It was underactive. I tried eating 1600 calories or more but I would never net more than abt 1400 .
I tried last week on 1200 or below (since I'm sort) and I gained half a kilo. Normally on weekends I eat about 2000.

So I need some help working out my calories
According to scooby my bmr is 1295
Plus I am breastfeeding so let's say I add 400.
So we are at 1695.. Scooby says my tdee is 2000 if moderately active or 1755 if lightly active.
I'm not sure which one I fit into cuz besides that exercise time I'm studying so I am not up and about much.
I exercise recently doing the shred and c25k so I burn about 200 -400 a day
Do I just eat 1700 and add exercise calories?

My journal is open... When I was eating at lower calories I was eating a lot on the weekend
Today I had a bday party hence all the cakes in my journal. I don't normally eat a lot of cAke.
Please let me know how much u think I should be eating? I am thinking I should be eating around 1800 net but that's a lot of food I don't feel like I can lose weight eating that much n feeling that full

My thyroid has suddenly gone overactive(blood test results today) so now I need to drop my dosage there. Unfortunately for me I did not have weight loss even tho my thyroid was overactive. It seems to have made me stagnate actually. Up and down on the same one kg

Replies

  • myztic
    myztic Posts: 37 Member
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    I have never been able to lose weight at 1200 even when I was not breastfeeding. Id lose weight once I stopped counting calories.. I assume that's because I assumed I needed to eat too little and calorie counting makes me feel like I need to drop calories.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Just to say you are adding in the breast feeding calories in the wrong place - because that BMR is multiplied to get TDEE, and that's not the case.

    But you see that 400 cal estimate for energy expended to make milk?

    Here's what to do based on what 2 others have now said worked great - one finished, one is doing it still.

    Set MFP to whatever activity level is honest, Lightly Active if at home moving around all day for the baby. If studying really makes it like a 45 hrs desk job/commute weekly without a lot of activity, then select Sedentary.

    Set it no Maintenance - no weight loss.

    Do NOT account for your breastfeeding in anyway. Your metabolism will be higher to take care of it - and there's your deficit.

    Higher here at the start as you feed more often - and have more to lose.
    Feed less often later then less deficit, and less to lose at that time.

    Log your workouts honestly, and eat those calories back. So if program is 45 min, but 10 min is stretching, than only log 35 min of exercise class workout.
    For walking and jogging, get the time down correctly, and the distance actually done. Figure out the pace correctly. If you really did the pace in the description to log it, use it. If you did faster but flat, round down. If you did faster between levels but had hills, round up. The walking and running entries are more accurate than HRM, if honest on the pace.

    Weigh your foods that you eat.

    Because with thyroid problems, a healthy body reasonable deficit doesn't apply to you, your body's reasonable level is going to be lower.

    Because you should not have a big deficit at all, that close to goal weight.
    And you won't swap fat for muscle unless you actually do some strength training. Your body has no desire to make muscle that has no use.
    And you'd have a hard time looking muscular, wrong hormones, and you'd have to do a perfect workout routine and eat in surplus if you wanted a 1 lb gain of muscle in 6-8 weeks. So nothing to worry about there.
    And you can't look tone if you can't see muscle through the fat.